Heart in the Flower
by Kallios the Scholar
Summary: Toby always knew that his older brother Seth was a bully, but he never suspected that Seth was also a killer. Now, with Seth almost strong enough to challenge the League, Toby has to find a way to stop his mentally unstable brother from murdering his way to the Championship, as well as retrieve a mysterious egg that Seth has stolen.
1. I Hate Mondays

Kanto didn't really get much in the way of cold weather, but during the winter there was sometimes a frost on the ground. In Pewter City, on a street near the museum, there was a small house. It had two stories, a green door, and a porch. There were empty planters on the porch itself, and lacy hoarfrost had decorated the windows. Beyond one of those windows on the second story of the house, there was a room. Inside that room, a boy was sleeping in bed.

"Tell me it's still Sunday," the boy murmured sleepily, cracking his eyes open to glance at the alarm clock sitting on the nightstand. It was set to go off in two minutes. Alright, fine, I lied. So the boy wasn't sleeping. Sheesh, people, get over it.

_"Sunday was yesterday,"_ came another voice from under the covers. A purple nose emerged from under the quilt and quivered once, and was followed by a pair of whiskers and two red eyes. A Rattata.

"It's gotta be Memorial Day Weekend or something," the boy said drowsily, rolling over and nearly crushing the rodent pokémon. The Rattata nimbly climbed over its master to curl up on the pillow, where it was unfortunately colder—but also safer, and with a much reduced chance of being inadvertently squashed.

_"__You'll be going to school in half an hour, Toby,"_ the Rattata said dryly.

"No," the boy protested feebly.

_"__If you ignore your clock, I will bite you."_

"It's not worth getting up today."

_"__But today is when Seth comes home from training to spend two weeks with you and your father. Now get up and act like you're happy."_

Toby whimpered and put the pillow over his head, earning a gentle warning gnaw on his ear from the dislodged Rattata. "I hate Seth," Toby said, his voice muffled by the pillow.

_"__You can't choose your family, Toby. Things will seem better after breakfast,"_ the Rattata said soothingly. At this point in time, the alarm went off, and Toby sat up in bed with a sigh to shut it off. The purple rodent claimed the warm spot under the covers that the boy had vacated as Toby dressed: jeans, sneakers, long-sleeved shirt and a T-shirt overtop it. He dragged a comb through his unruly brown hair.

Small claws hooked into the denim of his pants, and the Rattata scurried up the boy's leg and back to perch on his shoulder. The purple tail curled around his neck in a loose hold, those same claws digging into his shirt for an anchor. Toby stretched carefully, mindful of the small pokémon that was using his shoulder as a chair, then left his bedroom and walked down the stairs to the kitchen.

Johnathan Butler, father of Toby Butler, was sitting at the kitchen table. He was dressed in his work attire (suit and tie) but his glasses were sitting next to the steaming coffee cup at his elbow. Both items were being entirely ignored, and the man had his head in his hands. His shoulders were shaking silently.

"Dad?" Toby asked quietly, pausing at the foot of the stairs with one hand on the bannister. "Are you okay?" The Rattata crouched on his shoulder, the tail curled around his neck a comforting hold. Unconsciously, the boy reached up to stroke the soft purple fur.

Mr. Butler grabbed a napkin from the dispenser in the middle of the table, then blew his nose and wiped his eyes. He stood up, put his glasses on, and blinked for a few moments. "I'm fine, Toby," he said in that soothing bass voice that had meant utter safety and assurance when Toby was young. When he had been young enough to think his parents were like gods, capable of righting all the wrongs in the world. Now, Toby could hear the way the voice of his father trembled and how his eyes seemed moist. Had he been crying?

"Is... is Aunt Rachel okay too?" Toby asked.

A weak, watery smile from Mr. Butler. "No, no, Aunt Rachel's fine... she's scheduled to come out of the hospital in a few weeks, and the chemotherapy treatment seems to be getting results. It's about Seth, actually. Why don't you come and sit down, Toby?"

Toby came and sat.

Mr. Butler pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes for a few moments, thinking. When he opened them again, he seemed calmer. He reached across the table and took his son's hand, the grip vaguely comforting to Toby. The Rattata slid down the front of the boy's shirt and sat next to him on the table, leaning against his side. Toby could feel the warmth of the pokémon's body through his shirt.

"Seth is a good boy, Toby," Mr. Butler said, "He's... he's a good boy, a good son, good trainer..."

Toby bit his tongue in an effort not to reply to this. Maybe his father was right about _those_ things, but Seth had never been a particularly good older brother.

"But... well... we all make mistakes, don't we? Your brother's just made... just made a little mistake, that's all. He was accused of... of sexually assaulting a female trainer who was traveling with him, and when Officer Jenny came along he resisted arrest with the help of his pokémon. Now he's... on the run from the law..."

"Like a cowboy in a movie?" Toby asked.

Relief flooded through Mr. Butler's whole demeanor. "Yes, Toby, exactly like that. He's not a bad boy, he's not. He just made a mistake. I'm sure it'll all be cleared up really soon, and... and we can be a family again."

"Unless Seth goes to prison," Toby pointed out.

"For goodness sake, Toby! Seth isn't going to go to prison! He would _never_ hurt a woman like that, I raised him better than that. He wouldn't..."

Toby looked at his father for a moment, and took in the pressed suit and the carefully combed (if thinning) black hair, the scrubbed and shaved face. The tie was russet red with a pattern of small grey diamonds. He was an administrator in the museum, welcoming the visitors in and collecting their money. He never told anyone about his problems, and kept each secret tightly bottled inside of him. He was never outgoing, had never done anything wild or crazy or stupid, and the only sort of gossip he would ever inspire was along the lines of, "How in Mew's name could one man be so _dull_?"

For the first time, Toby looked at his father and absolutely hated him. He ducked his head and stared angrily at the tablecloth. There was a tomato-sauce stain from last night's dinner on it. _Yeah, Dad, you sure raised Seth right_, he thought bitterly, _You taught him to keep everything a secret and how not to get caught. He smoked joints behind the school dumpsters before he got his starter, and now he's a trainer with six badges. Way to go, Dad. Way to go_.

"Oh, son, don't cry," Mr. Butler said. He put his hands on Toby's shoulders, misinterpreting the way that the twelve-year-old lowered his head to stare at the stained tablecloth. "I'm sure it will all be fine soon. Seth will come home and spend a few weeks with us, and... and it'll all be fine. Do you want to stay home from school?"

Toby shook his head. "No, Dad, I'm fine," he said. He couldn't stand the idea of being cooped up in the house right now. "I want to go to school. There's a big test in science today that I don't want to miss."

Mr. Butler gave his son a relieved smile and ruffled the boy's thick brown hair. "That's my boy," he said fondly. "We wouldn't want people to wonder about why you're staying home if you're not sick. I'm glad that at least _one_ of us is thinking!" He gave a little nervous laugh that sounded fake.

Toby nodded and made the appropriate noises until his father left him alone. When the kitchen was finally deserted save for himself and the Rattata, Toby kicked the wall hard enough to make a small dent in the plaster. "I hate him!" he snarled fiercely. "He's so... so _blind_. To everything_._"

_"__He loves your brother,"_ the Rattata pointed out. _"__Moral men often have trouble comprehending the fact that their sons can do evil. Of course, he's never had any trouble out of you."_

"Yeah," Toby agreed bitterly. "Yeah, 'cuz I'm Tobias Samuel Butler, the nerdy failed trainer who never amounted to anything. The only interesting thing about me is the fact that the world's smartest Rattata lives in my house."

The Rattata twitched its whiskers in amusement for a moment. _"__Thank you,"_ it said with a nod of its small furry head, _"__I think that you'll do good things in your life, Tobias Samuel Butler. Maybe not great things such as discovering a cure for cancer, but certainly __good __things. Now, get your breakfast and go to school. I believe you mentioned a science test?"_

"I was just making that up for Dad's benefit," Toby grumbled, walking over to the cabinet and pulling out a box of Cheerios.

_"__Nevertheless..."_

"I know, I know... hey, Nimh, have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a trainer's Pokémon rather than just a... pet?"

_"__Running around with super-powered fools who barely have two brain cells to rub together and fighting anything that moves? Why yes, Toby, I have. But only in my nightmares."_

"So you don't want to..."

_"__No thanks. Really. You know, Toby, you make these should-I-be-a-pokémon-trainer-like-big-brother-Set h-and-impress-Dad noises every year. And each time, you don't. It's... Well, I was there when you gave up training. You had a good reason to. If you're only going to become a trainer to impress your father and make your brother stop treating you like a doormat, then I don't really think training is your proper path in life."_

"Yeah, I guess so," Toby murmured, spooning cereal into his mouth. "What do you think is gonna happen to Seth?"

_"__If I were him, I'd take the ferry to Hoenn and hide out in the remotest corner of the region for a good ten years,"_ Nimh said. The Rattata gnawed meditatively on a strawberry. _"__But then again, your brother isn't exactly renowned for his good sense."_

Toby rinsed out his bowl and placed it on the counter, then brushed his teeth and shrugged on his backpack. It wasn't very far to school, and he walked the six blocks in silence, absorbed in his own thoughts. At school, nothing happened for half a day. Toby was quieter than usual, distancing himself even from the other bookworms that he usually hung out with, only half of his attention on what was going on around him. He doodled in his notebook and filled out worksheets as though in a dream.

Sometime around midday, it happened. Toby never really knew how fast the news spread around the school, but it spread like wildfire. Phones buzzed in bookbags and purses and pockets. Text messages and links to videos showing footage. Someone had been watching the news and heard about it, and texted a friend in school. Then that friend passed it on... and on... and on...

Pretty soon, people were staring at Toby as he passed them in the hallways. The boy was nearly squirming under the attention and walked quickly, staring down at his feet and feeling his ears turn red. He was _glad_ to get to algebra and slide into his seat in the back of the class, where no-one would look at him, or stare at him, or whisper when his back was turned.

"Pst! Hey, kiddo, over here!"

Toby looked up from his notebook.

Jake leaned over from his desk across the aisle. "Did your big brother really..."

"Jacob Hunter, if you have anything to say to young Mr. Butler I'm sure that you can say it to me as well," came the icy voice of Ms. Hoffman from her desk in the front of the room. Jake froze for a moment, then sunk down into his seat and stared shamefacedly into his notebook. In his head, Toby pictured himself jumping up on his desk and doing a victory jig.

"And of course, Mr. Butler can come up and do the warm-up on the board."

Victory-jigging mental Toby fell off the desk and broke his ankle. The real-life Toby stood up slowly and walked to the front of the room, acutely aware of the acne spot on his chin and the way everyone was staring at him. He glanced at the equation.

4x – 3y = 7

The chalk felt cool and dry in his hand, flaking colored dust onto his palm. Toby wrote slowly and carefully, pretending that he couldn't feel the weight of the eyes of the other kids beating down on him. When he finished, Toby did a mental check of his work, and everything seemed to be in order. Knowing this class, there had probably been some fool who needed to have _x_ and _y_ explained to him again.

Toby turned around pointed to the raised hand in the back of the class. "You," he said.

The girl stood up. Her name was Heather, and she had curly ginger hair and bright blue eyes. Toby had had a crush on her since... well, since forever really. He could already feel his tongue tying itself in knots.

"Hey, Toby... did you know that your brother Seth just killed three police officers in Celadon City?" Heather asked, blinking those innocent blue eyes at the boy standing in front of the class.

The stick of chalk in Toby's hand snapped, the pieces falling out of his hand to land on the carpet with small, insignificant thuds. Ms. Hoffman pointed towards the door. "Out," she said, in a voice that would have made Kyogre itself as meek as a kitten.

Heather went.

The rest of the class passed in a blur of time that Toby didn't really remember afterwards. The teacher ignored him for the rest of the day, allowing Toby to process what he had been told and not interrupting his thoughts. The other students whispered about him and sometimes tried to get his attention, but Toby pretended not to hear them. He was happy when the bell rang: this was the last class for the day, and he wanted to get out of school and go on a walk out of Pewter City. Somewhere that he could be on his own and just... think about things.

"Could you please stay for a few minutes, Toby?" Ms. Hoffman called, just as he was walking out the door. Toby stopped, then awkwardly turned around. The other kids moved out of his way like the Red Sea had done for Moses, and the last of them filed out the door as Toby went to stand in front of the aging teacher's desk.

Ms. Hoffman was an old woman who kept her white hair severely pinned back. She never wore glasses, and her eyes were blue and very sharp. She was tall, taller than Toby's father, but also as skinny as a rake with cheekbones you could sharpen a knife on. She had never married, never had children, and was rumored to do math problems all night rather than sleep like normal humans beings. Most of her students lived in fear of her. Toby was no exception: behind the desk where the old woman couldn't see them, his knees were knocking together.

"Yes, Ms. Hoffman?" Toby asked.

"Sit down, please, Toby," the old woman said. Toby dragged a chair over from a nearby desk and sat down, putting his backpack down on the floor beside him. He wished that his Rattata was here; with Nimh perched on his shoulder he usually felt a little braver.

"I'm sorry about your brother," the old woman said. "I taught Seth seven years ago, and I can remember what he was like. Brash, outgoing, rather coarse in his sensibilities..."

"He was a bully," Toby murmured into his lap, unable to raise his eyes to meet the gaze of the old woman. It was strange, to have Ms. Hoffman acting so... human. You didn't really expect it of her.

"I'm certain that his interactions with students weren't nearly as decent as what he typically led others to believe," Ms. Hoffman agreed. Her words were spoken with care but not reverence, almost as though she desired everything to be correct but also didn't approve of floweriness or drama. "Now, Toby... did you ever pursue pokémon training? Children your age are usually out in the world, traveling the gym circuit and winning their badges..."

"I _was_ a trainer," Toby murmured, "For a little while."

"What made you stop?"

"My starter died."

"...I'm sorry," Ms. Hoffman said quietly. The sympathy in her voice was genuine. For a long moment there was silence between the stern old woman and the quiet young boy. Then the old woman sighed and reached into her desk drawer, pulling out a photograph and handing it over. "I was the Gym Leader of Pewter City in 1978," she said. "A Bug-type specialist. My starter was an Anorith named Gawain. He and the rest... we were a good team, but never League material. Here, take a look." She handed over the photograph. Toby accepted it warily, studying it for a few moments. There was a Scyther, a Heracross, and a Butterfree. At the forefront of the photo was a tall young woman who stood with her legs braced and her hands clasped behind her back. She didn't smile, but even in the photo you could tell that pride and happiness suffused every fiber in her being. Beside the woman stood a massive Armaldo.

Toby handed back the photo. "Thank you, Ms. Hoffman," he said, "But... why are you showing me this? I mean, I don't mean to be rude, but if you're trying to tell me something then could you please just _tell_ me?"

The old woman tucked the photo back into her desk drawer. She closed her eyes briefly, then opened them again. "In the rainforests of South America there is a flower known as a bromeliad," she said softly. "The flowers are very big and at the center of each one there is a little pool of rainwater that collects there. In those pools are tiny golden frogs. They grow up in the pool and live there all their lives, and when they die their bodies float down to the bottom of the pool and nourish their plant. And during their lives the little frogs never leave the bromeliad—ever. They live their entire life within a single flower."

Her blue eyes fixed themselves on Toby's, and they held his gaze even when the boy wanted to stare down at his lap again. "Can you imagine that, Tobias Butler? Can you imagine living your entire life inside a flower? You have just seen what lies beyond the edge of your own flower, if you'll pardon the metaphor. If you ever want to find out some answers from your brother and venture out beyond the petals, I'm willing to help you."

There was another long pause, and then Toby nodded and stood up. "Thanks again, Ms. Hoffman," he said, "But I don't think so. I always knew Seth was rotten, and this... stuff... just proves it. I don't need any answers from him, and I don't need to become a pokémon trainer."

"And what if he comes here?" Ms. Hoffman asked.

"What do you mean?"

"More than three quarters of the criminal trainer population attempt to seek refuge in their family home. It's where they have traditionally felt safe and protected in the past. What will you do if you come home from school and find your brother there?"

"I'll... I'll talk to him, I guess. Try and stop him before he does anything else."

"How? With what?"

"...With just me, I guess. Just myself and some words."

"Are you planning to stop him with that?"

Toby didn't know how to reply to that. He knew what Ms. Hoffman was driving towards, but he still resolutely shook his head. "I wasn't planning to make a citizen's arrest. Stopping him and taking him away by force is the police's job, not mine. I'm just a kid. He's... Seth hasn't ever been afraid to use physical force to get his way. Ms. Hoffman, I don't _want_ to confront Seth. I'm _scared_ of him. I've always been scared of him. He gave me—" Toby cut himself off, realizing he had said too much.

"Go on," Ms. Hoffman murmured, looking at him. There was no turning back now.

"He gave me a Magikarp for my starter when I turned ten. A _Magikarp_. I went to Pallet Town to get a real starter from Professor Oak, of course, but on the way back in Viridian Forest there was a horde of... well, bad things. Both the Squirtle and the Magikarp died in there. I would have died too if not for my Rattata. I quit pokémon training after that because I didn't want the death or the violence. But Seth _likes_ it! He likes fighting, and hurting things, and sometimes he hurt _me_ just because it made him feel more powerful. If I confronted him with pokémon he'd probably _kill_ them, just to make sure that I understood who was top dog. No _way_ am I confronting Seth, Ms. Hoffman. No way."

By the end of his speech Toby was breathing hard, and there was some sweat on his forehead. He hadn't ever talked about Seth before, or the way Seth was at home. Ms. Hoffman was still sitting at her desk, her bony hands steepled in front of her. There was a thoughtful expression on her face. "Alright, Toby, I understand," she said, softly. "And I'm sorry for attempting to push you down a path that you didn't want to take. Becoming a trainer was a solution to quite a lot of my problems, and occasionally I make the error of assuming that it will be the solution for everyone else's problems as well. You can go now, if you want. I didn't call you back to give out extra homework."

"Thanks, Ms. Hoffman," Toby said, pushing the chair back to where it belonged and shrugging his backpack back on. "Oh, and Ms. Hoffman? Why'd you quit being a Gym Leader? I mean, there isn't a forced retirement age or anything."

The old woman smiled wanly at Toby. "My starter died," she explained, and suddenly the twisting of her lips at the corners of her mouth seemed very wry. Toby nodded, and then fled out the door and down the hall. On the walk home he was barely aware of his feet taking him back to his house, his mind was so busy whirling. As soon as he opened the door, Nimh climbed up onto his shoulder and chattered in his ear.

_"__Toby!"_ the Rattata said, _"__There's something very important I have to tell you, about your brother—"_

"Hey, little bro!" called a voice from the kitchen. "Long time no see!"

Seth strode out of the kitchen, popping the tab on a can of soda and grinning like he didn't have blood on his hands. His Charizard snaked its long head around the stove to grin at Toby, revealing a mouthful of very sharp white teeth. Toby felt his heartbeat stammer in his chest. Suddenly, it was very hard to breathe.

* * *

**A note before y'all move on: the Rattata's name is Nimh, like the animated 1982 movie _The Secret of NIMH_, which was directed by Don Bluth. A few of the characters are rats who were experimented on by scientists in NIMH (National Institution of Mental Health) and they became sentient and learned how to read. Since my own Rattata character is extremely intelligent in and of himself... yeah, you can tell where I got the name from. Just wanted to put that out there.**


	2. A Brother's Love

**_KFA = Kantonese Field Agents_. A special branch of the Kanto government made up of powerful trainers and their pokémon, designed for bringing down criminal trainers who are powerful enough possess at least four of the region's Gym Badges. To join them requires six months of training, as well as all eight Kanto Gym Badges and proof of having defeated at least two of Kanto's Elite Four.**

**Also, since everything seems to cost more in the Pokémon World, I figured that I just took the regular price of things and added a zero onto it then I'd have the equivalent "PokéPrice". Now let's just hope that my Introduction to Business teacher never, ever reads this.**

* * *

"Hey, Seth," Toby said in a small voice, looking at his older brother in a way that most people reserved for large carnivores. Then again, the Charizard standing right next to Seth _was_ a large carnivore, but still...

"What's your problem, bro?" Seth asked, frowning. "You don't seem very happy to see me."

"I _am_ happy to see you," Toby lied, "It's just... you got here sorta unexpectedly."

Seth smiled. Or at least, his mouth turned up at the corners and he displayed a lot of teeth. "That, and you were kinda hoping the police would find me before I found you," he teased. "I know what you're thinking, Toby. Yeah, sure, I killed those people—but they deserved it! They should have died a long time ago! I was doing the world a favor!"

_He's crazy_, Toby realized. _Totally crazy_. The boy thought about running back out the door, but then changed his mind. Toby could feel Nimh trembling on his shoulder, the Rattata crouching down in an effort to make itself seem small and pressing its purple body against its master's head.

"Okay," Toby said. There didn't seem to be anything else to say.

Seth was a lot taller than Toby, and as lanky as a beanpole. His hair was shaggy and black, his eyes green, his face tanned and handsome. He wore cargo pants and a T-shirt as well as hiking boots and a light jacket. There were poké balls clipped to his belt. But there was also a certain wild look in his eyes, as though Seth knew he was being hunted and could feel each second of time being shaved away. As though Seth knew what was going to happen to him once he got caught.

And he _was_ going to get caught, right? No-one could _beat_ the police. It was impossible to just beat the entire police force of a region—because if you got even close there was the army, and then the KFA. Right? _Right_?

"I... Toby, little bro..." Seth began, then trailed off, then began again and once more trailed off into silence. The silence lay thick and heavy between the two boys, like a suffocating blanket. The Charizard rumbled out a question in a deep, heavy voice, and its trainer waved a hand in vague assent. The Fire/Flying-type used one of its hands to open the door of the refrigerator and rip open a packet of bacon, gulping down the raw and greasy meat.

_"__Tastes good,"_ it mumbled appreciatively with a grease-stained muzzle, tossing the plastic packet aside and going for the hamburger meat.

_"__Barbarian,"_ Nimh hissed under his breath, crouching down for a moment and pressing closer to Toby. Despite the Rattata's formidable intellect, he had the caution and wariness typical of his species and probably would never outright challenge the Charizard, regardless of what the enormous orange pokémon did.

"Sorry about him," Seth apologized, shrugging one shoulder and watching the Charizard gorge itself on meat and fish for a moment. "He needs to eat a lot, and it's pretty hard to feed him in the wild."

Toby said nothing. He remembered going to the grocery story with his father and watching his dad buy that meat. The scallops had been a special treat, planned for when Seth came home since Toby's older brother loved seafood. They'd cost 230 poké per pound.

"Toby," Seth said, "I... I can't stay long." The older boy seemed distressed about something, though what it was, Toby had no idea. There was a wild, hunted look in Seth's eyes, and he kept glancing towards the front windows that looked out onto the street. For the first time, Toby saw his brother show fear.

"That's okay," Toby said softly, trying to keep his voice soothing and utterly non-confrontational. "It's good to have you back, Seth. I've missed you." The younger boy was attempting to put himself firmly in the good-guy role, and to soothe his older brother. He didn't really know how well that was going to work out, but it seemed like a good idea.

Seth laughed suddenly, his shaggy hair falling into his eyes. The sound was utterly joyless and sounded almost like sobbing. "You're such a liar, Toby," Seth said, "Such a damned liar. I... I... You _hate_ me, Toby, and I know that now. I know what it feels like to be the underdog. _They broke me, Toby_. They broke me..." Seth was honestly crying now, his breath coming in ragged gasps as tears welled in his eyes. Like a child, he wiped them away with his fists and left smears of wetness behind on his cheeks.

The Charizard rumbled in concern and attempted to maneuver in the cramped kitchen, turning around and pushing the table a good two feet and knocking over some chairs in an effort to get to its trainer. _"__Trainer? Trainer, is something wrong?"_ it asked, moving to stand over its master and bringing its massive wings around in an almost sheltering gesture.

A framed photograph of the two boys and their father and mother at the Sevii Islands was knocked off the wall. It fell to the floor, and the glass cracked as the frame broke into two pieces. Magnets were swept off the fridge door and the salt and pepper shakers were knocked off the table. Seth leaned against his pokémon, suddenly seeming small and vulnerable. This wasn't the terrifying bully that Toby remembered.

"Seth?" Toby asked, walking over. The Charizard glowered down at him, narrowing its eyes, but Toby just reached up to put his hand on his brother's shoulder. There was too much history between the siblings for Toby to ever actually _hug_ his brother, but the younger of the twain discovered something amazing: he didn't hate Seth.

Seth had mocked him, beaten him up, ridiculed him when he started out on his training journey and laughed at him when he failed. He had bullied him into doing his homework and chores and stole his books and games. But there had also been the odd kind action that Seth had done, and Toby suddenly remembered that the Magikarp he had been given would have eventually evolved into Gyarados if it had lived. And seeing Seth like this—crying like a little boy, frightened, loathing himself—was almost terrifying. Because Seth never cried. Seth had always been the strong one.

"Who broke you, Seth?" Toby asked in that same soft, reassuring voice that he had used before, keeping his hand on his brother's shoulder.

"The Rockets," the older boy replied hoarsely. His eyes flicked to the window again as he breathed the word, almost as though he was afraid that merely speaking the name of Team Rocket would have its members bearing down on him.

"But they're just a bunch of thugs, Seth. They go around scaring people and vandalizing property—you've got six Gym Badges and four powerful pokémon. What could they do to you?"

Seth moaned in fear and ran his trembling hands through his black hair. His eyes still had that wild look from before, but now his gaze was directed inwards rather than outwards.

"You don't understand," the older boy said, his voice thick with tears. "I... I ran with 'em for awhile, helped 'em make robberies. We... we hit the C-Celadon Department Store, the Silph Co. HQ... other places... The money was good, real good, and I got my cut just like they promised... but one day the Rockets said, 'Hey, Seth, you should join Team Rocket' and I said 'No' and they just... just hit me, with their feet, their fists, sticks, the butts of their guns... I... I... Toby, I thought I was going to die, I couldn't get my pokémon, they locked me up in a basement..."

For a long moment, Seth said nothing, and it came to Toby suddenly that even though his brother was five years older than him, Seth was still a seventeen-year-old boy who was used to getting his way and simply intimidating the people around him into giving him what he wanted. Being badly hurt at the hands of the Rockets might indeed have broken him—it had violated the rules that Seth had assumed the world around him would follow all the time, that he could always get away with everything. Now he had discovered that the universe did not, in fact, work in accordance to the wishes of Seth Butler, and he was taking the discovery rather badly.

The idea that his brother was just starting to grow up made Toby feel terribly, terribly old.

The Charizard rumbled in anxious concern again and lowered its head to nuzzle its trainer, the rough orange scales scraping on the human's more delicate mammalian skin. Seth reached up with both hands and wrapped his arms around the pokémon long neck, forcing his little brother to step away and clinging to the Charizard the way a child would cling to the family dog in times of distress. "Thank you, Vritra, thank you," Seth murmured, running his hands over the orange scales in an attempt to stop the draconic pokémon from worrying so much.

_"__Toby,"_ Nimh murmured directly into his master's ear, too quietly for Vritra or Seth to hear. _"__Keep him talking and focused on you. I have a plan."_

"Okay," Toby breathed, the word little more than a breath of air. His lips barely moved. The Rattata slipped off of his master's shoulder and walked across the kitchen floor, leaping nimbly onto the table and heading for the bowl of fruit that Toby's father had always kept next to the napkin dispenser. The Rattata plucked out a bunch of grapes and began eating, for all appearances seeming to utterly ignore the emotionally distraught (and possibly insane) trainer and the overprotective Charizard.

"Seth?" Toby asked, allowing himself only a single glance at the Rattata in an attempt to figure out what the Normal-type was doing. "Seth, what happened next? How'd you get here?"

Seth gave an all-over shudder and seemed to suddenly remember where he was, turning back to his little brother to continue his story. "I... I told you I was in the basement, right? The basement where the Rockets locked me up?"

"Yeah, you did. Where was that?"

"In... near Saffron City, I think. Somewhere close to there... in the suburbs. Below a grocery store. I... I could hear people walking above my head, but they never seemed to hear me even when I screamed..."

"How did you escape?"

"When one of the guards was bringing me food, I... I kicked him so that he fell down, and t-t-then I just k-kicked him in the face until he didn't move an-anymore... The other one at the door was new, just joined, reached for his poké ball rather then the gun... I... I... got his gun out of the... the holster and shot him, and his Sandshrew... I didn't want to hurt him... Toby, you gotta understand, I didn't want to hurt him..."

"Yeah, Seth, I understand," Toby murmured. "You had to do it to get out of there. I would have done the same thing." Out of the corner of his eye, Toby watched Nimh leap from the table to the counter, his small claws making a tiny scratching sound on the Formica countertop. The Charizard twisted its head around and glared at the Normal-type, but the Rattata merely sniffed the day-old pot of coffee that Mr. Butler had forgotten to clean out before going to work and stuck his head into the sugar bowl.

"I... I hide the bodies in my cell, then took the uniform off of the older one. The younger one was closer to my size, but the shirt had... had holes in it from... you know. I walked around the base and found where they were keeping the pokémon, and I got mine back... I... I took stuff from the Rockets. I figured it was just compensation, yanno, getting back what I deserved for what they did to me..."

Toby nodded and cut in quickly. "Okay, Seth, I get that, but what about that girl? Dad said you had sexually assaulted her—"

"The little bitch was lying!" Seth suddenly shouted, transforming from a teary teenage boy who was scared of his own shadow into the angry young man that Toby better remembered from his childhood. The compassion in Toby's heart diminished dramatically. "She was lying, I swear! I never touched her that way! When I got out... when I got out I tried to be a normal trainer again, pretend like nothing ever happened... I met Celia and we started traveling together, and after a couple weeks she told me that her brother had joined Team Rocket. Toby, you have to understand: how could I trust her at all once she told me that? How could I? Maybe she'd tell her brother about me, and then they'd find me again—or maybe she was working like a secret agent, planning to ingratiate herself with me and then steal what I'd taken from the Rocket place... I had to drive her away, Toby, I had to. I hurt her, but not a lot, not like the Rockets hurt me. She ran away during the night and blabbed to a news reporter that I'd raped her—she was just covering for herself! Lying!"

"And the police officers?"

Seth scowled at the floor, then suddenly wrapped his arms around himself and seemed to revert back to his former mood of fear and remorse. "I had to do that too, Toby, it was necessary. They kept trying to take me away—I couldn't let them, I couldn't. I set my pokémon on them. I used Morpheus (he's my Hypno, you haven't met him) to put them to sleep, but then... then they wouldn't wake up again. I didn't mean to kill them, I swear. I swear in Mew's name I didn't mean to kill them..."

"Okay, Seth, okay..." Toby murmured soothingly. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Nimh clamber up the side of the refrigerator to perch on top of it, looking like a strange stuffed toy amid the ceramic figurines that Toby's mother had used to collect.

"So did you come home to get something, Seth, or is this goodbye?" Toby asked, mentally praying for the latter of the two options. Seth was crazy and unstable and dangerous, and Toby had already decided that he didn't want his older brother hanging around in secret. For one thing, Toby's father would probably try to hide Seth from the police rather than turn him in and let Seth get the help he needed.

"Yeah, little bro, I'm here to say my farewells," Seth said. He wiped at his eyes again and took off his backpack, handling it gently. That was new, with Seth. Normally the older boy flung his things around carelessly without any heed as to whether or not they might be damaged. Toby idly wondered what Seth might be keeping in there. Stolen jewelry? Money from a robbed bank? A rare and valuable artifact that he'd filched from the archaeological dig site under Mt. Moon?

"I... Toby... I'm gonna miss you. I was a crappy older brother, and I wish I'd done it differently when I'd had the chance..." Seth began.

_Shut up!_ Toby thought frantically, feeling a flare of hatred rise up in his chest. Seth wasn't allowed to pull some dirty, underhanded trick like that. Seth was supposed to be the bad guy here—he wasn't allowed to repent, to be forgiven. He was the bad guy... but Toby could feel his resolve beginning to crumble. Underneath the layers of anger and bitter resentment, Toby had always wanted his older brother to like him and be nice to him.

"I should've given you a Shellder for a starter, I think. I know it sounds lame, but they eventually evolve into Cloyster and they start off stronger than Magikarp... I'm sorry for the way I treated you, Toby, I really am..."

_Shut up right now! I don't __want __to like you!_ Toby screamed, in the privacy of his head. Unbidden and unwanted, the tears started to well up and blur his vision, and Toby stared resolutely down at his shoes to hide them. He didn't want to like Seth, didn't want to feel any sort of affection or compassion for him. But just like the stupid tears, the stupid feelings were welling up inside him. _Please, Seth, why'd you have to pick now to start being a real brother_...

"I'm gonna make it up to you today, Toby," Seth said, and the younger of the two siblings could hear Seth unzipping his backpack. Toby looked up quickly and saw Seth pulling a blue pokémon egg out from his backpack.

The Charizard roared in rage suddenly, making the panes of glass in the window shudder and rattle in their frames. It unfurled its wings abruptly, making huge scratches in the wood of the cabinets. And Nimh, timid but clever Nimh, streaked past the enormous Fire/Flying-type across the counter, racing for the house phone that sat in its cradle.

The Charizard bellowed again and released a stream of fire, setting the countertop and the table alight. The Rattata just barely managed to dodge, but he did make it to the phone and ripped the device out of the receiver, quickly hitting the small red button in the corner that would automatically summon the police once it was pressed.

"No!" Seth screamed, nearly dropping the egg. He fumbled for the poké balls at his belt and released one—a Nidoqueen. "Boudicca! Catch that filthy rat!" the older teenager screamed, and the Poison/Ground pokémon obeyed. She produced a flurry of Toxic Spikes that left smears of poisonous purple goo on the floor, and then proceeded to chase Nimh around the kitchen in an effort to use Crunch on him. The Charizard was doing the same, bathing the kitchen in flames.

It was starting to get very hot.

"See, Toby?!" Seth yelled, grabbing his younger brother's shoulders and tugging him closer, his vice a bellow over the roars of his pokémon. "See?! You can't trust anybody in this world—or any_thing_! Your rat betrayed us!" Nimh chose that moment to skitter over Seth's boots, and the trainer kicked out at him but (fortunately) missed.

The Rattata swerved to the side, scurrying over the melting linoleum tiles on the floor and wending his way through the minefield of Toxic Spikes. Most of the cabinetry was burning merrily, and some of the pots and pans were glowing as red as Cheri berries from the heat. The plastic spatulas and Tupperware were dissolving into puddles of molten goo. The entire house shook with the force of the cries of the Charizard and Nidoqueen, while Nimh frantically raced away from them.

Seth shoved the blue egg into his little brother's arms. Nimh paused in front of the window next to the sink for a moment too long, and the Charizard picked up a flaming chair and heaved it towards the Normal-type. Nimh ducked, and the chair crashed through the window. For a moment, the Rattata bared its teeth in a disdainful snarl, and then he leaped nimbly through the convenient exit that the Charizard had created for him.

"Get out before you burn, Toby!" Seth called. Clutching the egg to his chest, Toby ran up the stairs to his bedroom and stuffed Nimh's poké ball into his pocket, coughing and choking on the smoke that had risen up the stairs. The floor felt hot beneath his feet, and Toby had seen the fire hungrily devouring the banister on his way up. He jammed his wallet in his pocket and looked around, at the well-thumbed books that he couldn't save from the licking flames, at his laptop and the Xbox he had gotten last Christmas, the dozens of games he had saved up for. The fire would devour it all.

Toby turned back towards the door, his mind made up. Then he saw that the doorway was blocked by the roaring fire, and that the flames had already reached his bed and were crawling over the comforter and the stuffed Mareep toy that he'd had since he was six.

_"__Look this way, child_,_"_ whispered a clicking staccato voice that was rough and dry like old sandpaper. Toby turned and looked, and out the window he saw a Shedinja perched on the sill, empty dark eyes peering at him.

_"__My trainer sent me, child. Would you care for a ride, or would you prefer to find out how those flames feel against your skin?"_ Its eyes were empty and dead, as befitted a Ghost-type, but for a moment Toby was sure that he could have seen a spark of malice flicker in their depths.

"Where will you take me?" Toby asked warily, keeping one eye on the Shedinja and the other on the advancing flames. The stuffed Mareep toy was now nothing but a blackened husk. The heat beat against the boy with a force that was almost physical.

_"__A safer place than here, child. If you plan to refuse my trainer's offer, please speak quickly, so that I do not have to linger and witness your pathetic demise."_

The fire was so close that, even pressed up against the opposite wall, Toby could feel the skin of his arms begin to redden and cook. Soon he would start to roast in earnest. "I'll go!" Toby yelled, knowing he had no choice. "Get me out of here!" The Shedinja nipped through the window, attaching itself to the front of Toby's shirt and pushing him backwards. Then the Bug/Ghost-type ducked the human child into his own shadow just as the flames reached out claim the spot where Toby had been standing.

* * *

Toby reappeared behind the school building, the chilly breeze coming as a shock against his hot skin. The blue egg that Seth had given him was still clutched to his chest, and Nimh's poké ball rested safely in one pocket. In the other pocket was Toby's wallet, which had held all of his money ever since Toby had decided that he was too old for a Grumpig bank.

The Shedinja hovered near Toby, watching him.

"Did you Teleport me here?" Toby asked it warily.

_"__No,"_ the Shedinja replied, _"__I used Shadow Sneak to bring you to safety. If it is of any use to you, your Rattata waits for you at your father's place of work."_

"Thanks," Toby said. The Shedinja hovered in the air near the boy. There were things that looked like wings covering its back, but Toby knew that those were just the ripped-open pieces of exoskeleton from where a Ninjask had struggled free from it. Because a Shedinja was just a reanimated shell, really. It had no organs, no gender, and no soul.

There was an awkwardly long pause while the boy waited for the Shedinja to do something, and the Shedinja watched the boy and waited for the human to do something.

_"__My trainer instructed me to remain at your disposal until you had no further need of my aid, child. If all business between us is finished, dismiss me,"_ the pokémon finally said.

"Who's your trainer, Shedinja?" Toby asked.

_"__I do not know her name, child. Human names have never mattered to me. But perhaps you do not need me to speak of her to you. I believe she has already spoken with you today... something concerning flowers, perhaps?"_

Ms. Hoffman, the Bug-type specialist. Of course. Had she known that Seth would be coming all along? Toby tried to think of any Bug-type pokémon who knew the move Future Sight, but couldn't come up with anything.

The Shedinja was still watching him with those dull, dead eyes.

"You can go now, Shedinja," Toby said quickly, trying to ignore the little shiver of relief that raced up his spine as the pokémon disappeared into its shadow again. The boy turned and saw the column of smoke rising into the sky from the residential district, from where his house was.

On his walk to the museum, Toby tried not to think. He didn't want to think about Seth, or what Seth had done, or the egg that he was carrying around in his arms. More than likely, the egg had been stolen from someone. Maybe Seth had robbed a trainer. Toby didn't know. He didn't _want_ to know. He was exhausted, both from terror and from the mental anguish that had been plaguing him ever since his father had broken the news about Seth to him that morning. Mostly, he wanted to just lay down and sleep.

Nimh was waiting for him right beside the door to the museum, looking singed around the edges. The Rattata was favoring one leg, but he hauled himself up to Toby's shoulder with his usual speed. Maybe even going a little bit faster than usual, even—there was a stray Meowth eying Nimh from an alleyway, and the Rattata was understandably nervous.

"Are you okay?" Toby asked, using one hand to run his fingers through the short purple fur. Nimh flinched when his trainer's fingers stumbled over a burn, but then snuggled down on his trainer's shoulder.

_"__Considering that I managed to escape both a Charizard and a Nidoqueen, Toby, I am feeling absolutely superb,"_ Nimh remarked dryly. _"__If you could find some ointment for burns and a jar of peanut butter, I might even get up and dance."_

"I thought Rattata were supposed to like cheese."

_"__If you continue being so stereotypical, I will bite you,"_ Nimh replied. _"__I'm glad you're safe, Toby,"_ he remarked a moment later, scurrying around his trainer's shoulders and even briefly sitting on top of Toby's head, sniffing him all over. Toby grinned like a loon.

_"__Now... do you know what's in that egg that Seth gave you? Did he say what it was?"_

"Not really, no."

"_Well, it's blue. Probably that Shellder he mentioned. You should get inside to your father—he's probably worried sick about you right now. I saw the firetruck go by with the Blastoise squad less than a minute ago."_

"Nimh..." Toby murmured, looking down at the egg in his arms. "Do you think... do you think that Seth really came here just to give me this? That he really just wanted to say goodbye?"

Nimh thought for a moment. _"__No, Toby, I don't think he came here only for that,"_ he said after a moment had passed. _"__But I do know better than to attempt to rationalize the actions of madmen. Mew only knows the twisted corridors of your brother's mind."_

"Yeah," Toby agreed, turning the egg over and over in his hands as he looked down at it. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

* * *

**Vritra is the name of a legendary dragon in Hindu mythology, one who blocked the courses of the Sapta Sindhu (seven rives) and was later slain by Indra.**

**Boudicca is the name of a famous British warrioress who attempted to liberate Britain from Rome. She failed, and her exact fate is unknown. Some say she was killed in battle, others that when she lost the battle of Watling Street she took poison rather than be captured.**


End file.
